Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Acting Chairperson Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to refrain from cashing in on the 228 Massacre, while calling for a new probe into the attack on then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).
“It is not the first time the DPP has gained power. Over the past two decades, all three presidents of the nation, former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), have combed through, declassified and looked into documents regarding the 228 Incident,” Huang said on Facebook yesterday.
However, president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is saying that she plans to establish a “truth-finding and reconciliation committee” to excavate the facts behind the 228 Incident after her inauguration on May 20, Huang said.
Huang said that while she respects Tsai’s decision, the incoming president should also launch a new probe into the “319 shooting” incident to give Taiwanese the truth they deserve.
The “319 shooting” was an attack on Chen and Lu in Tainan on March 19, 2004, one day before the presidential election. A bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and left a 13cm wound, while another bullet hit Lu in the knee.
Evidence suggested 64-year-old Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who was found dead in an alleged suicide 10 days after the shooting, was the culprit, but many people remain unconvinced.
Huang made the remarks one day after Tsai pledged at a commemorative ceremony to declassify more official documents concerning the 228 Massacre, which refers to the government crackdown that began on Feb. 28, 1947, and a series of bloody purges against civilians in subsequent months by the then-KMT regime.
The event marked the beginning of the White Terror era that saw tens of thousands of people arrested, imprisoned and executed.
Tsai has also vowed to establish a committee responsible for revising and drawing up laws to ensure the restoration of historical facts during the White Terror era, as part of her effort to achieve “transitional justice” in Taiwan.
Huang said what Taiwanese need is love and tolerance, not divisions.
“We should learn our lessons from history. Those in power ought to soothe the pains and heal the wounds of the past, working to promote ethnic harmony, solidarity and reconciliation,” Huang said.
They should not rub salt into the nation’s wounds for the mere sake of their political ambitions, she said.
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